Ghosts
by gwebn
Summary: Emil and Natalya occasionally deal with spirits. Happy Halloween, have some IceBela.


Emil checked the time before he checked the phone buzzing in his pocket. 11:43. He had no doubts who it could be.

Natalya's name shown on his screen, accompanied by a silly ghost and knife emoji.

"They're back." The message read. "I am out of sage. Have any to spare?"

"Again?" He replied, texting one handed as he pulled on his battered brown boots. "I think so. Let me check."

"Ok." She responded instantly. Emil could clearly picture Natalya starting at her phone screen until he answered. Not that he was special. She just did that when she needed to text someone. She had to text her brother once when they were studying together a few weeks ago. He swore she burned a hole in the screen. Emil has texted her quickly ever since.

"Should I bring the amber, salt or chalk?" Emil asked her, assessing his supplies now that his shoes were laced. He had everything he needed, including the dried sage bundle and a stolen zippo, tucked away in his school bag. He needed more chalk soon, but he could probably get away with what he had for one night. "I have the sage."

"Yes to all." The next text said. He swung the bag over his shoulder and grabbed his house keys.

"OMW. Be there in 4.5."

Four minutes and thirty seconds later, Emil stashed his bike behind a shrub and approached Natalya's front door. She was waiting on the steps with her hands folded in her lap. Like him, she was largely unaffected by the chilly autumn winds that swept through the dark streets and kicked up minuscule leaf tornadoes.

"4.5 minutes?" She asked in lieu of a greeting.

"I timed my trip last week." Emil said sheepishly. "I was curious how long it took."

She nodded approvingly. If Natalya liked anything, it was exactness.

"It's cold." She stated as she stood, smoothing out the skirt of her dress. "The house is haunted but at least we can heat it."

Emil emptied his bag on the kitchen table as Natalya watched on, collecting a fallen chunk of chalk.

"What do you think?" Emil mused, straightening the items on the table. "Do we draw the runes or burn the sage first?"

"Aren't you the expert here?" Natalya asked dryly, raising an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't say I'm an expert..." He mumbled. "Besides, you're the one who sees them."

"You're too humble." She said. "What runes are you doing?"

"I'll show you." Amongst his supplies, Emil kept a battered mole skin. It was a hodge podge of things. Runes, sigils, class notes, spells, to-do lists… there's a chili recipe in there too, though he hasn't had a chance to make it yet. He flipped to a page marked with a white, ink spattered piece of ribbon and showed her the notebook. On one page, scribbles and rejected sigils captured in protective circles. On the next, the one he tapped on with his index finger, were for runes placed in the cardinal directions.

"Hm." Natalya hummed, studying the runes with careful scrutiny. "I like your use of Isa and Thurisaz."

"Oh. Um. Thanks." He replied sheepishly. Natalya was a tough critic, making her complements rare and blunt. Like being hit with baseball when you're nowhere near the diamond. He had no idea how else to react, so he just kept talking. "I thought it would work well with Algid and an inverted Eihwaz."

"It could work." She pondered, tapping her chin. "Or it could piss them off."

"We won't know until we try." Emil swallowed. "But we should probably burn the sage first just in case."

—-

"Is that Arthur's?" Natalya asked as Emil lit the fat, green bundle of sage.

"What, the zippo?" He replied, blowing on the smoldering plant matter, coaxing the herby smoke from the leaves. "Possibly. Why do you ask?"

"He won't shut up about losing it." She rolled her eyes. "He keeps complaining about his dollar store lighters."

"In that case, no." Emil sighed. "It fell out of his pocket and got left in the living room after his make out session with my brother… Not that I care about that because Kjetil can kiss whoever he wants. I was going to give it back but the guy called my cat fat and stole my entire bag of Swedish fish. I just can't stand for that, Natalya."

"Sounds like a reasonable response." She said solemnly. When Emil first met her, he could never tell when she was kidding or being sarcastic. In the last few months, Emil has learned that the answer, despite her stoic demeanor, is usually yes.

"I thought so." He said with a smirk. When the sage bundle was properly smoking, he put the zippo in his picket. "Maybe I'll give it back when he isn't a brother kissing, fish stealer."

—-

Natalya clung to his left arm as they walked through the tiny house, cleansing the air of each room and hallway. They walked slowly, making sure the power of the smoke took hold. When they reached her sister's room, Natalya stopped, leaning her head against Emil's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" He asked, now that the lack of circulation in his forearm was making his hand numb. She was nervous, he could tell, and it was almost never a good sign when your psych was nervous.

"Burn a lot of sage in here." She mumbled. "They like Kat's room for some reason."

Emil nodded, giving the sage a wave to dispel the smoke. "She has a good energy. That might be why."

"Do I not?" Natalya asked, legitimately offended.

"No no, it's not that." Emil backtracked, "I think it's just that they know you can see them."

"Oh. They're shy." She said with a sudden clarity. "They should know I like shy people."

"Is that why you hang out with me?" Emil joked, wishing he had a free hand to poke her or play with her hair.

"That, you're cute, and you occasionally exorcise my house." Natalya replied plainly, as if it were a matter of fact.

"Well- I mean- most of that is true." Emil blushed, happy she wasn't looking at his reddening face.

"When do I lie, Emil?" She countered, still leaning against his shoulder. Her death grip on his arm lessened now that the room was being cleansed. He could almost feel his fingers again.

He huffed, not knowing how to respond. "Hey, Nat?"

"Yes?" She asked.

"What are we going to do if this finally gets rid of your ghost problems?"

"I don't know." She said. "I'm sure we'll find something."

"Maybe we can go on a real date one day?" Emil said hopefully, taking what he believed to be a shot in the dark.

"Are you saying this isn't a real date?" She snickered, looking up at him with a small smile. He wondered if she could hear his heart skipping a beat.

"I was thinking a movie maybe-" Emil said with a nervous laugh. "Wait, if this is a date, then how long have we been dating?"

"Six weeks, if you want to be technical." She answered. "I thought you knew."

"I didn't." Emil laughed. He had a girlfriend for the last six weeks and he had no idea. What an idiot. "What if we got married and I didn't even know?"

"That would be ridiculous." Natalya said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

"Ha, yeah." He agreed. "Though, I think I would have got suspicious when a ring showed up on my finger."

"You would be surprised how much gets past you." Natalya said. She could have been joking but she probably wasn't. "What movie should we see?"

"I'm… not sure. I didn't think I'd get this far." Emil said with a shrug. "We still have to finish cleansing the house. Want to see what's in once we're done?"

"Sounds good to me."


End file.
